


Black Market Bar & Grill

by lscar123



Series: Black Market Bar & Grill [1]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 11:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9320750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lscar123/pseuds/lscar123
Summary: Welcome to the Black Market Bar & Grill.On the busiest night of the year bartender Ty Grady is the most in demand person in the bar between the drink orders and the girls trying to get his attention, it's too bad the only thing he can think about is how badly he handled his first meeting with the beautiful dark haired man who owns a bookstore on the other side of town.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a cute AU idea I came up with while working on the sequel to my other story, wrote it in once quick go and didn't spend too long proofreading it so sorry for any grammatical mistakes or weird moments. Hope you enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

Black Market Bar & Grill

 

It was the busiest night of the year. The Raven's were playing their final home game of the season and the bar was slammed, not to mention how fucking busy they'd be once the game finally ended and the rowdy crowd transplanted itself from the stadium to his bar.

Ty Grady leaned against the cooler, taking the brief moment of respite and savoring it for all it was worth. He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair and sighed, feeling the droplets of sweat that had formed on his forehead. They were running him ragged tonight.

“Hello?” A tiny blonde girl snapped from the bar.

“Sorry, darlin',” Ty flashed her his award winning smile, “don't know how I missed such a beautiful young lady at my bar.”

“Oh, it's...it's fine.” The girl said, her cheeks flushing red.

“How can I help you?” Ty asked.

“Can I get a Peach Bellini?” The girl smiled.

“Anything for you, darlin'.” Ty winked.

His wink was a cover for the eye roll he wanted to give her, who came to his bar and ordered a fucking Peach Bellini?

He looked back over and gave the girl another smile and a wink. He laughed as he saw her shudder and turn to her friends to gossip about him. He liked teasing the girls, it was fun, and it normally led to him getting a better tip. And he never had to worry about one of them waking up in his bed the next morning and not remembering her name because they weren't usually his type, but they didn't need to know that.

He slid the drink across the bar to the girl and gave her a smile as he moved on to his next customer. The bar was pilling up quickly and stool after stool was disappearing. He looked down the length of the bar and became visibly annoyed at the people who were just camping out. The bar is for drinking, not for loitering, get your drink and move on or keep ordering shit while you're sitting there, otherwise you're just taking money out of his pocket. And don't even get him started on people who just order fucking water.

“One of these days I'm going to snap and just say something.” He mumbled to himself.

He looked around the room to take in the faces of the patrons. So many women, all of them giving him some form of googly eyes. For once he wished one sane, attractive, man would walk into his bar just so he could have something nice to look at, preferably one that was gay and that would come home with him. Sure, there were plenty of men around the room now but none of them caught Ty's eye, he was very particular with the people he was actually attracted to. He supposed he might have too high of standards and that's why he'd been single for the last year and had barely had any sex but you can't blame a guy for knowing what he wants.

He shrugged off the thought and went back to the bar, spending the next hour filling orders, throwing beer, shots, and all manner of liquor down the bar to the increasingly annoying population. They were about to get to the point of the night when everyone was fucking wasted and acted like an asshole just because they couldn't help themselves.

Ty looked back up at the screen to make note of the game and groaned as he saw it had just ended. And that The Ravens had lost. Things were about to get crazy.

 

~*~

 

Ty was close to pulling his hair out. It had been an hour since the deluge of purple had spilled through the door and it was showing no sign of stopping. He's already broken up three fights, called the cops twice, and had to physically restrain one guy himself. Tonight just was not his night and he could feel himself about snap.

He looked back up at the bar and saw there was finally a free stool and laughed to himself about the insane game of musical chairs that was about to begin as people made a dash for the only open space. It was no sooner than when he looked back down at the bar and then back up that he saw the seat had been filled with no commotion. He locked eyes with the man sitting in front of him and froze for a moment. Fuck, this guy was beautiful.

“Hello?” The man asked.

He was dressed in a plaid button down, sleeves rolled up to reveal his tan and muscular forearms. He had thick black hair that held a slight curl had started to gray a bit at the temples. His face has the same crisp tan as his arms and had a soft smile on it. Ty could make out years worth of lines on his face, some from worry and some from joy, and had to remind himself to breath.

“Earth to bartender.” The man laughed again, snapping Ty out of his daze.

“Sorry!” Ty shook his head with a nervous laugh, “You...look familiar and I was trying to place your face.” Ty lied and shook his head. What kind of fucking excuse was that?

“Ah,” the dark haired man smiled, “well I've never been in here before tonight so it's not from here.”

“Must have one of those faces them.” Ty smiled and shrugged, trying to play off his stupidity.

“Maybe. Maybe you've been to my store?” The man asked.

“Store?” Ty echoed.

“I own a bookstore on the other side of town, Brick and Mortar Books. Maybe you've seen me there?” The man smiled.

“Negative. I try to avoid driving across town unless my life depends on it. The traffic makes me anxious.” Ty laughed, even more embarrassed now.

“Guess it's just one of those faces then.” the man shrugged, “Anyway, I'll take a seltzer water with lime if it's not too much trouble?”

Ty sighed. Of course he was too good to be true. It was always something. If someone ordering a water at the bar set Ty close to the edge then don't even get him started on people who order fucking seltzer water, especially with lime. Just drink a vodka like a normal fucking person! Ty straightened his shoulders and decided he would give the man the benefit of the doubt, maybe he just wanted to start off with something non threatening. He was hot enough to deserve a second chance.

“Coming right up.” Ty smiled, pulling the seltzer water gun out of the well in front of him and squeezing a lime. He slid the drink to the man and then turned and walked away. He looked back over his shoulder and saw him watching, he raised a glass to Ty with a smile and brought it to his lips. Ty saw him frown when the liquid hit him but didn't have time to analyze any further as his attention was pulled by a needy girl at the other end of the bar.

Twenty minutes later he was pissed off and covered in vodka. Apparently the needy girl at the end of the bar wasn't happy with her drink, one Ty didn't even make, and instead of waiting for him to make her another one she threw the drink all over him and then threw the glass at him for good measure. He nursed the cut on his forearm where the glass hit for a second before bandaging it and returning down to the other side of the bar.

“Is it always like this?” The man asked Ty.

“Sometimes.” Ty replied in a short tone.

“Noted.” The man laughed.

Ty looked back at him and saw the empty glass.

“Can I get you something else?” Ty said quickly, his hands already working on someone another order.

“Another seltzer water would be nice.” The man smiled.

“Seriously?” Ty said out loud before he could catch himself.

“I'm sorry?”The man asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Ty sighed, “people who come and sit at the bar and only order shit like water piss me off, takes up space and wastes my time when I could be making other stuff that people actually like.”

Ty kicked himself for even saying that much but it had been such a shitty night that he'd lost almost all of his customer service skills and was just over everything.

“Sorry I wasted you time.” The man said softly.

Ty looked up at him and his heart dropped as he saw the look of pain that was evident across the mans face. It was a stark contrast to what was there only a few minutes before. The smile was replaced by a deep frown and the laugh lines had given way to deeper, more intense frown and stress lines. Ty felt like a fucking asshole.

“You didn-” Ty stopped when the man got out of the chair and pulled his wallet out. He reached into it and pulled a $50 bill out and threw it onto the bar.

“Hopefully this makes up for the inconvenience.” The man said in a weak voice, pulling his leather jacket over his body, turning his back to Ty and walking out of the bar.

“Fuck.” Ty sighed, smacking himself in the forehead.

 

~*~

 

Ty rested his head on the wheel as he sat in the parking spot. It had taken him almost two hours to get there between the traffic and the GPS system that he just knew was trying to fucking kill him. He got out of the car and took in the sight of the building in front of him. It was big. Three stories tall, solid red brick, and huge glass windows that framed the front of the building. As Ty got closer to the window he saw a cat sitting in it and shuddered. He fucking hated cats.

He pushed the door open and stuck his head through as the bell above it rang. The store itself was a lot busier than he thought it would be, he has just assumed that everyone read books on their phone and tablets these days but smiled when he saw the steady stream of people moving about the two floors that he could see there was access to. He silently wondered what the third floor was.

“Hi! Welcome to Brick & Mortar Books!” A tall girl with red hair said from the other side of the solid wood counter that had a gorgeous potted orchid on it.

“Hey.” Ty smiled.

“Hi, my name's Michelle, anything I can help you find?” She asked.

“Actually, yeah, I'm looking for a guy.” Ty smiled.

“I think there's an app for that.” Michelle laughed.

Ty's face turned bright red and he could feel his skin heating up. He shook his head and coughed.

“No...I....uh...the guy that works here. Owns it!” Ty clarified himself.

“Oh, you mean Zane?” Michelle laughed.

“Zane? Sure, yeah, I didn't get his name.” Ty said.

“I told him to stop getting with people without even giving his name.” Michelle rolled her eyes.

Wow, Ty thought, this girl just says whatever the fuck comes to her mind.

“No,” Ty laughed, “He uh, came into the bar I work at last night and left something. All he said was that he owns this place. Is he here?”

“Oh,” Michelle with a knowing look on her face, “he's upstairs.”

“OK?” Ty wondered, “Can you go get him?”

“Yeah, no. He's not coming down.” Michelle glared at him.

It dawned on Ty that Zane might have told her about his asshole bartender last night and he shifted uncomfortably where he stood.

“Oh.” Ty whispered.

“Yeah, said he didn't have a good night last night and was taking a personal day. Called me in on my vacation and everything.” Michelle side eyed him.

“Oh, well whenever you seem him...can you give him this?” Ty held out an envelope and put it in Michelle's hands.

“Sure,” she raised her eyebrow, “who should I say it's from?”

“Tell him it's from some asshole bartender.” Ty shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the store disappointed and back to his car.

 

~*~

 

A week passed and Ty had thought about Zane every single day. It was actually starting to annoy him how much he was thinking about the guy. He couldn't bring himself to go back to his store though, he'd returned Zane's $50 bill in the envelope he gave to the woman in his store along with a note from him and he'd hoped every day since that Zane would show up at the bar. But he hadn't and Ty figured that Zane didn't want to see him, not that he would blame him after the way he'd acted.

Ty was suddenly annoyed that it was a slow night, with less people around it left him with less to do and more time to be alone with his thoughts. He scrubbed furiously at the glasses in front of him, trying to erase the image of Zane from his mind. He didn't even look up as he heard the door open.

“Take a seat anywhere.” Ty yelled.

“Really?” A familiar voice asked him, “Even if I'm just ordering water?”

Ty looked up, his eyes wide with shock, Zane was standing right in front of him. The glass slipped from his hand and went crashing to the floor, shattering into a million tiny pieces.

“Earth to bartender.” Zane waved his hand in front of Ty's face.

“Uh, hi.” Ty said, coming back to reality.

“Hi.” Zane smiled.

“Sit. If you want.” Ty said, indicating to one of the many open seats.

“Sure?” Zane asked, “I don't want to waste your time.”

“Please.” Ty frowned.

“OK.” Zane sighed and sat down at the seat directly in front of Ty.

“Can I get you anything?” Ty asked quietly.

“Is a Coke an approved menu item?” Zane smiled.

“Yes.” Ty said flatly.

He could tell Zane was having fun with this, the teasing, and Ty figured it was better than never seeing him again so he took it. He walked over to the other well and poured Zane a Coke and brought it back to him.

“I got your envelope.” Zane said after a long minute.

“Good.” Ty smiled.

“You could have kept the money.” Zane shrugged.

“Nah, I didn't deserve it.” Ty frowned.

“I got this too.” Zane smiled and took out his wallet. He reached in and pulled out a card and placed it on the bar in front of Ty. Ty smiled, knowing exactly what it was.

In addition to returning Zane's money he had placed a business card for the bar that he's written on the back of in with it.

“You're welcome at my bar any time. Signed Ty.” Zane said with a smile, reading off the back of the card.

“I meant it.” Ty said, walking around the bar and taking a seat next to Zane. “Listen, I've beat myself up for it every day since it happened. I feel terrible. I didn't mean to snap at you. It was just a bad night.”

“For you and me both.” Zane let out a long breath.

“What do you mean?” Ty asked.

“I'm sober,” Zane sighed, “have been for the last five years. It's why I ordered the seltzer water. I was having a bad night, it was the anniversary of the death of someone close to me, and I wanted a drink. Sometimes when the craving is as bad as it was that night I go into the closest bar I can find, sit there, and order a seltzer water with lime to at least pretend. It's not the healthiest of coping mechanisms but if I sit there for long enough and see everyone around me who's acting like a total fucking idiot because of the alcohol then it subsides.”

Ty didn't think he could feel any worse about how he treated Zane until this moment. He was ready to go drown himself in the harbor at this point.

“Fuck Zane,” Ty frowned, “That girl, Michelle, said you had a rough night...you didn't?”

“No,” Zane laughed, realizing why Ty was getting at, “I didn't drink after I left. I just went home and wallowed in my misery and cuddled with my cat. Couldn't bring myself to get out of bed the next morning, depression is a bitch sometimes.”

“I'm sorry.” Ty said, his voice coming out hoarse.

“Don't be,” Zane smiled, “It's not your fault, really, don't worry about it. I was pissed at you, yeah, but I figured I'd never see you again but when Michelle told me you came to the store the morning after I almost dropped dead.”

“I felt like an ass.” Ty shrugged.

“You drove all the way across town for me, huh?” Zane winked.

It sent a chill through Ty's body and he felt his skin grow hot and knew he was turning red.

“Yeah.” Ty whispered.

“Was it worth it?” Zane asked.

“I hope so.” Ty smiled.

“Has anyone ever told you that you're cute when you're groveling?” Zane grinned.

“You think I'm? You're?” Ty couldn't finish any of his thoughts.

“Yes I do and yes I am, mostly.” Zane laughed, “You?”

Ty could only nod his head, wrinkling his face as he realized he needed to nod twice to finish off the questions.

“Good,” Zane laughed, “I'd love to spend some more time with you. Outside of this place.”

“What're you doing tonight?” Ty asked quickly, surprising himself.

“Tonight?” Zane asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I get off in an hour, had the early shift today.” Ty smiled.

“Well then, you tell me, what am I doing tonight?” Zane winked again and Ty felt the fire fill his body once more.

“Wanna...go grab dinner? There's a really good Italian restaurant down the street.” Ty said.

“I'm familiar with it.” Zane smiled, “Sounds like a plan.”

Ty couldn't suppress the smile that grew on his face.

“On second thought,” Ty said, holding up his finger and turning to the other side of the restaurant, “Nick! I'm heading out early tonight, keep this place afloat for an hour until Kelly gets here. Did you hear me you Irish bastard?”

Ty waited for a few moments before a familiar red haired individual stuck his head out from the back room.

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Just make sure you use protection.” Nick joked in his thick Boston accent.

Ty looked back at Zane who was studying him. He hesitated for a moment before standing and holding out his hand.

“It's not that far...if you want to walk.” Ty said sheepishly.

“I'd love that.” Zane smiled, standing and taking Ty's hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

Ty smiled as they walked out the door and looked at Zane's handsome profile standing a few inches higher than him.

He sighed when Zane looked down at him and winked again. It was in that moment he realized he'd probably have to start driving across town more often now.

 


End file.
